Hours later, the new adviser’s Wikipedia page was amended by a clearly angry Ukrainian user, who wrote that “the Ukrainian internet community compare Miguel Forbes with Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Claude Van Damme and other fading celebrities from the West who are trying to make some money in heavily corrupted post Soviet countries.”
A couple of hours later, chief editor of Forbes Ukraine Vladimir Fedorin said there is no formal agreement between the oligarch’s business group and Miguel Forbes. “I agreed to offer advice. No formal position,” the latter was quoted as saying.
This confusion adds fuel to an already fiery debate in Ukraine about Forbes’ ethical position and even prospects for business in Ukraine after last month Kurchenko took over UMH Group, which publishes Forbes Ukraine, and owns a number of other influential media.
The new owner, Kurchenko, is a 27-year-old multi-millionaire who shot from complete obscurity to the top of business elite at the end last year, when he bought a football club. He then acquired a loss-making oil refinery, a stadium, UMH press empire, and – most recently – a bank. Amazingly, he keeps buying loss-making assets on a market most are fleeing from, fueling speculation about his high connections.
Kurchenko, who was initially believed to be close to President Viktor Yanukovych’s son and Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, is now considered to be gaining muscle of his own, becoming an independent oligarch and a favorite of the president.
It was all the more surprising that as news of the UMH purchase appeared, raising fears that one of Kurchenko’s motives was silencing Forbes’ Ukraine investigations into his own business, Miguel Forbes issued a statement endorsing the deal and the “new opportunities for Forbes Ukraine.”
This week he apparently came to Ukraine to talk to Kurchenko about the editorial policy of Forbes Ukraine after Kurchenko takes full control over it next year. He is being watched closely by Ukrainian journalists who consider this case a litmus test for where the media sector is going.
But instead of consolation, Forbes has brought confusion. If a top global company executive has agreed to be a minor Ukrainian oligarch’s adviser, it would make a despicable precedent. If he did not, we think the public is owed an explanation.
